Premium
Attitudes toward nuclear energy: One potential path for achieving scientific literacy
Author(s) -
Dulski Richard E.,
Dulski Rosalie E.,
Raven Ronald J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
science education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.209
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1098-237X
pISSN - 0036-8326
DOI - 10.1002/sce.3730790204
Subject(s) - scientific literacy , mathematics education , curriculum , psychology , literacy , science education , energy (signal processing) , scale (ratio) , next generation science standards , sample (material) , environmental education , space (punctuation) , class (philosophy) , social psychology , pedagogy , chemistry , geography , mathematics , statistics , computer science , cartography , chromatography , artificial intelligence , operating system
The widespread problem of the scientific literacy of the general public has been previously acknowledged. However, an uninformed populace can jeapordize the future direction of major science–related public policy issues, such as nuclear energy, by basing their support on generally emotional or nonfactual grounds. As part of a larger study aimed at concurrently identifying the attitudes of secondary school students toward several science–related topical areas (i.e., nuclear energy, environmental issues, energy concepts, science concepts, space exploration, and metrication), a nine–item Nuclear Attitude Instrument (NA!) was developed. This scale was subsequently validated and administered to a sample of grade 9 and 10 students ( N = 172) of average achievement and ability, at a predominantly middle–class suburban high school in New York State. Yielding a coefficient alpha of O.87 and a corrected itemtotal correlation mean of O.61, the NAI responses displayed statistically significant topical area correlations ( p < 0.01) with environmental issues (inverse), energy concepts (inverse) and space exploration (direct). Presented in the format of a factor analytic path model, nuclear energy Was also found to be incorporated in a distal rather than a proximal attitudinal structure among the respondents. These relationships bear educators' consideration during both course content material selection and curriculum design, for the purpose of positively enhancing students' attitudinal development toward science–related topical areas. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.